to ask you for favourite novel as a child?

[grapeswithseeds]

For me it was probably The Famous 5 series, I love adventure!

Those of us mentioning Enid Blyton are revealing quite a lot about how old we are! For me it was the five find outers and dog rather than Famous Five. I went directly from hoovering up Enid Blyton to Agatha Christie.

I read better books these days, though still love a good plot.

My kids' generation is all Ronald Dahl, Artemis Fowl and Harry Potter.

I loved the Magic Faraway Tree books by Enid Blyton. They sparked my love of reading. I loved reading them to my children too. When the weather is windy and dark I still say to them, ‘Hurry, this land is moving away’. 😜

@ageingdisgracefully

My Friend Flicka Thunderhead, Son of Flicka. The Boy Next Door. Black Beauty. Lion, Witch and Wardrobe. Valley of Adventure.

Gosh. .my friend flicka. ..loved it!

When I was at infant school it was The Young Elizabeth and The Young Mary Queen of Scots by Jean Plaidy then at middle school it was Masha/Youngest Lady in Waiting by Mara Kay

@Jojoanna - glad to see another Masha fan on the thread - did you know they had been reprinted? I bought them for my DC and they have now been read so many times they have fallen apart....

The Magic Faraway Tree
The Jill series of books about a girl and ponies.

Others I remember reading were:

• The Silver Sword
• Over Sea, Under Stone
• A House Inside Out
• Jeremy James stories: a boy who had impossibly logical solutions to the complexity of the adult world. "Jeremy James wondered how much money he had saved Daddy by hiding the bills, and he also wondered when a richer Daddy would make a richer Jeremy James."

I'd totally forgotten about Black Beauty until PP mentioned it - I always cried when I found out what happened to Ginger!

Others that have come to mind:

What Katy Did
The Little Princess
Running Out of Time by Margaret Peterson
Stacey and Friends
Babysitters Club
The Sleepover Club

From when I was younger:

The "Alfie" books.
Winnie the Pooh.
Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (an Australian book so not really heard of over here I don't think), same as "Wombat Stew" and "Bollygum".
Beatrix Potter.

So many interesting answers, why are these books your favourite, what did you like about them? For me The Famous 5 made me feel like I was on the adventure myself and that kids my age could make a big difference

Two
Shadow the sheep dog by Enid blyton (which it was still in print)
And Midnight is a lonely place by Joan aitkins.

Wish not which!

Rebecca's World

Green Knowe! I was visiting a country park locally the other day, on the site where a mansion burnt down in the 60s, and thought of those books.

My absolute favourite were Antonia Forrest's school books, but the ones set in the school holidays featuring the same characters were even more exciting. They were out of print (and remain so, I think) but I managed to get them from inter library loan in the 1980s.

For any Noel Streatfeild fans, nearly all her books are available very cheaply on Kindle. I had a nostalgic re-read during lockdown. I loved her 'Gemma' series. They are very well written.

Watership Down. I can still quote whole sections from it 40+ years later. Also secret seven and Black Beauty.

When very little, there was a ladybird book call Downy Duckling, written in rhyme. Again, my mum and I can still recite most of it between us, it was read so often. Aged about 2 or 3, people thought I could read (I couldn't) because I could speak the whole book out loud, turning the pages in the correct place.

Loved the Famous Five & Nancy Drew

Did anybody hear read the Carbonel series? It was about a magic cat and girl called Rosemary who found a broom stick.

I loved a lot of the books mentioned but also enjoyed the Bobbsey twins, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. All American I think.

The Demon Headmaster by Gillian Cross
The Runaways by Ruth Thomas

I liked the Young Elizabeth and Young Mary Queen of Scots because the books began with them as very young children and told the tale from that perspective so I related with the main characters whilst also (obviously) wanting to be them. I used to spend hours pretending that I was one or the other - mainly ELizabeth as I had a "golden child" younger brother too.

Masha was a rather different book in that it looks unusually closely at the feelings of loneliness that a a shy poorer and slightly"oddball" child can have although surrounded by others at school. It was my situation so completely that the book sort of became my "best friend"/escape if that doesn't sound odd. I think I had it out of the CIty library for well over a year on repeat renewals which, in retrospect was no doubt very selfish but I really needed it at the time.

@grapeswithseeds

So many interesting answers, why are these books your favourite, what did you like about them? For me The Famous 5 made me feel like I was on the adventure myself and that kids my age could make a big difference

I think I loved Jacqueline Wilson because they dealt with such heavy and gritty topics. I was always one of those kids who's favourite Disney characters were the villains over the princess'. The scene in beauty and the beast when Prince Philip is trying to get to the cancel and maleficent turns into a dragon is probably my favourite scene from any Disney movie 😂 so I definitely always loved slightly dark and gritty stories.

And I think I loved the naughtiest girl series because I related to her in a way. I was sent to a very small all girls private school she 10 which I assumed would be full of very prissy twee delicate wallflower type girls. Which as a tomboy never not coveted in dirt was not appealing. I kicked up such a fuss about going but ended up absolutely loving the school and quickly realised my assumptions were very wrong. So I saw myself a lot in Elizabeth!

Railway Children
Black Beauty
Narnia
Jennings books
Silver Sword

And yy to Carbonel.

And a few less popular ones
Animal Family - Randall Jarrell
Rebecca’s World - Terry Nation
Brown Mouse - Frank Jennens

I read loads as a kid and liked quite a few of the same ones others have mentioned.

The Redwall series by Brian Jacques was good too.

Adored Ballet Shoes.

The Secret Garden and Black Beauty made big impact on me.

All the Paddington books.
Jennings books : really old fashioned but good fun.
Roald Dahl
The Jill books about horses :
Any horse books ( Black Beauty , horse in the house)

I won't mention duplicates, but otherwise:

Lois Duncan (teenage horror/suspense novels)
Elizabeth Enright (The Melendy Family quartet)
Rosemary Harris (The Moon in the Cloud series)
Adele Geras (The Girls in the Velvet Frame; two of the characters have the same name as me and my sister)

Would also be something from the famous 5. I didn't even notice the racism and I'm part black.